Men significantly outnumber women in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) majors, with a recent male-to-female ratio of approximately 4:1, a stark contrast to the near parity in other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (1). This gender disparity in PECS carries wide-reaching implications for equity,…

After receiving their degrees, exiting master's degree holders have a variety of employment and education options available to them. Many students enter or remain in the workforce, whereas others continue their graduate education in physics or other subjects. Some new exiting masters, mostly non-US citizens, leave the US after receiving their…

Each fall the Statistical Research Center (SRC) conducts its Survey of Enrollments and Degrees, which asks all degree-granting physics and astronomy departments in the U.S. to provide information concerning the number of students they have enrolled and the counts of recent degree recipients. In connection with this survey, SRC asks for the names…

New physics bachelor's entering the workforce receive some of the highest starting salaries of any undergraduate majors. Each fall, the Statistical Research Center conducts its "Survey of Enrollments and Degrees," which asks physics and astronomy departments to provide information concerning the numbers of students they have enrolled and…

Academic year 2010-11 produced 2 new all-time highs for physics bachelor's and physics PhDs conferred in the U.S. The 6,296 physics bachelor's degrees earned in the class of 2011 represent a 73% increase from a recent low in the class of 1999 twelve years earlier. The 1,688 PhDs in the class of 2011 is up 55% from a recent low 7 years earlier.…

The bachelor's data in this Focus On were all compiled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). IPEDS is the core postsecondary education data system for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. The PhD data in this focus on were all compiled from WebCASPAR, the integrated…

This roster contains detailed data from the annual Survey of Enrollments and Degrees conducted by the American Institute of Physics. The roster contains data reported by degree-granting physics departments in the United States for 1998-1999 introductory physics course enrollments, 1998-1999 degrees, and fall 1999 undergraduate majors and graduate…

This roster contains detailed data from the annual Survey of Enrollments and Degrees conducted in the 2000-2001 academic year, which contacted all degree-granting physics departments in the United States. Of the 770 degree-granting physics departments, 751 (98%) contributed to the data on 1999-2000 introductory course enrollments, 1999-2000…

This report discusses trends in the physics academic workforce and the implications of these trends for the future academic job market. In March 2000, a survey was sent to 766 U.S. physics departments that grant at least a bachelor's degree in physics, and 725 responses were received, a response rate of 95%. Degree-granting physics departments in…

This roster contains detailed information from the annual Survey of Enrollments and Degrees. The report contains data reported by degree-granting astronomy departments in the United States for 1998-1999 introductory astronomy course enrollments, 1998-1999 degrees, and fall 1999 undergraduate majors and graduate student enrollments. In the United…

This roster contains detailed data from the annual Survey of Enrollments and Degrees conducted in the 2001-2002 academic year. The roster contains data reported by physics departments in the United States for their 2000-2001 introductory course enrollments, 2000-2001 degrees, and fall 2001 undergraduate major and graduate student enrollments. Of…

This roster contains detailed data from the annual Survey of Enrollments and Degrees. The survey was conducted in the 2002-2003 academic year. It includes all degree-granting physics departments in the United states. Presented in this roster are the data reported by those departments for their 2001-2002 introductory course enrollments, 2002-200…

This report describes how the representation of women in physics has changed, presenting data comparing the representation of women in physics to the representation of women in other fields and in academics overall. Highlights include: an increasingly large number of girls have some exposure to physics by taking it in high school; women's…

This report discusses trends in the physics academic workforce and the implications of these trends for the future academic job market. Data are from a survey of physics departments that was completed by 722 departments, a response rate of 94%. The number of physics faculty increased almost 5% since 2000, and much of this growth resulted from…

This report provides data on students earning physics and astronomy Bachelors degrees for the academic years ending in 1999 and 2000. A survey was sent to each of the 763 degree-granting departments that confer physics degrees, and responses were received from 2,721 physics major seniors from both classes. Findings show that physics Bachelors…